Dental syringe construction



April 14, 1970 J. A. MAURER ETAL 3,506,002

DENTAL SYRINGE CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 25, 1967INVENTORS l', Epqw ppn/ami y kben/,Jn & M ATTORNEYS .John Mam/reVworRI/*er KenJIz/R L Hear BY April 14, 1970 J. A. MAURER ETAL 3,506,002

DENTAL SYRINGE CONSTRUCTION Filed May 25. 1967 .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent O 3,506,002 DENTAL SYRINGE CONSTRUCTION John A. Maurer,Victor R. Ferguson, Kenneth R. Lappin,

and Henry C. Ebben, .Im-Canton, Ohio, assignors, by

mesue assignments, to The Stern-Web Company, a

corporation of Delaware Filed May 25, 1967, Ser. No. 641,373 Int. lCl.A61c 17/02 U.S. Cl. 12S-173.1 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Adental syringe construction having a handle portion formed of a tubularhousing with a nozzle portion attached to a head at one end and air andwater hose connections at the other end. Air and water conduits arelocated through the tubular housing from the hose connections to thenozzle. Valves, in a valve body connected by a bracket to the head, arelocated in the air and water conduits with a lever for operating eitheror both of the valves and a metering valve is provided in the waterconduit for regulating the amount of water admitted to the nozzle. Anelectric heating element surrounds the air and water conduits within thetubular housing but is spaced from the housing to provide an insulatingair space therebetween.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The nozzle portion of the syringemay be of the type shown in application of John A. Maurer, Ser. No.397,398, filed Sept. 18, 1964, now Patent No. 3,374,789, issued Mar. 26,1968.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relatesto syringe constructions and more especially to a dental syringeconstrucfion. More specically, the invention relates to a dental syringeconstruction which, through selective adjustment and manipulation, maybe used for ejecting either air or water, or predetermined mixturesthereof.

Description of the prior art Although most prior constructions of dentalsyringes have been of a single-purpose type, that is for ejecting eitherwater or air but not a combination of the two, attempts have been madeto provide a syringe construction arranged for selectively ejectingeither air or water or a mixture of the two.

With one such prior form of syringe construction, it has been necessaryto provide a complicated, expensive and bulky control device mounted onthe dental unit for directing the desired iluid or iuids to the syringewhen and as desired.

Another such syringe has a very complicated control construction locatedwithin Ithe handle of the syringe, and none of the prior artconstructions has means for regulating the flow of water through thesyringe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general terms, the syringe constructionembodying the present invention may be stated as comprising a handleportion and a nozzle portion. The handle portion includes a tubularhousing within which is located a valve body, water and air conduits andheating means, la head being located at one end of the handle foroperably connecting the nozzle portion, and means being located at theother end of the handle for attaching an air and water hose. Means isprovided in the head for regulating the flow of water so that either asolid stream of water or a fine spray may be ejected from the nozzle.

A n air valve and a water valve are loca'ed in the valve body, and arotatable and longitudinally movable selector switch is provided forselectively operating either or both valves.

It" is an object of the present invention to provide an improved syringeof the multi-purpose type which overcomes the difficulties andinconveniences of the prior art constructions.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a syringeconstruction in which the selector switch is spring loaded and adaptedto be operated by an operating lever extending outwardly from thetubular housing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a syringe constructionof this character having means for regulating the llow of water to thenozzle.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a syringe constructionof this type in which an electric heating element within the housingsurrounds the water and air conduits.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a syringeconstruction which satisfies the above objects in a simple, eicient andcompact manner, and which may ybe produced at a minimum of expense.

These and other objects, apparent from the drawings and` followingdescription, may be attained, lthe above described diliiculties overcomeand the advantages and results obtained, by the apparatus, construction,arrangements and combinations, subcombinations and parts which comprisethe present invention, a preferred embodiment of which, illustrative ofthe best mode in which applicants have contemplated applying theprinciple, being set forth in detail in the following description andillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In 4the accompanying drawings:

FIG. l is a side elevation of a syringe embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded View of the syringe;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, longitudinal sectional view lthrough the handleand head portion of the syringe;

- FIG. 10 is a fragmentary longtudinal section through the head, .takenon the line 1010, FIG. 7;

FIG. l1 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view through the rearnipple assembly; and

FIG. 12 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing theconnection of the hose to the hose nipple assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to theconstruction illustrated, the syringe construction comprises the handleportion indicated generally at 1 and the nozzle portion indicatedgenerally at 2, the handle portion including the tubular housing 3 withhead 4 at one end, to which the nozzel 2 is attached, and a coupling nut5 at the other end.

Air and water are supplied to the interior of the handle through thehose 6 (FIG. l2), having the air supply conduit 7, the water supplyconduit 8, and the electric wire conduit 9 therein. A ferrule 10 islocated upon this end of the hose 6. The hose 6 is attached to the hosenipple 11 by means of the similar nipples 12 and 12 having thecorrugated end portions 13 received into the air conduit 7 and waterconduit r8, respectively, of the hose 6.

The nipple body 11 has a peripheral ange 14 at its end which is engagedby the internal shoulder 15 in the coupling nut 5 to retain the nipplebody in the tubular housing 3. The ends of the air and water nipples 12and 12' are received in longitudinal openings 16 and 17, respectively,in the nipple body 11.

The hose nipple body 11 has a central bore 18 which communicates withthe air nipple 12 through the short conduit 19. At a point spaced fromthis end of the hose nipple body the bore is considerably enlarged as atand the water nipple 12 communicates with this enlarged portion of thebore through the longitudinal passage 21. The bore in the nipple body 11may be further enlarged toward the other end as shown at 22.

A rear nipple assembly is associated with the hose nipple body 11 andincludes the connecting nipple 23 having the circumferentially enlargedinner portion 24, closed at its inner end by the end plug which may besecured therein by any suitable means such as silver solder indicated at26.

The connecting nipple is then reduced as at 27 and received within theportion 22 of the bore of the hose nipple body, and then further reducedas at 28 and received within the portion 20 of the bore of the hosenipple body, and iinally Vreduced as at 29 and received within thesmallest bore 18 of the hose nipple body 11.

A peripheral groove 30 is formed in the intermediate portion 28 of theconnecting nipple 23 and receives an yO-ring 31 which forms a sealbetween the same and the portion 20 of the bore of the hose nipple body.

A peripheral groove 32 is formed in the reduced end portion 29 andreceives an O-ring 33 which forms a seal between the same and thereduced portion 18 of the bore of the hose nipple body.

An axial bore 34 is formed in the outer end portion of the connectingnipple, this bore being slightly enlarged as shown at 35 and thenconsiderably enlarged at 36 and further enlarged at 37 `within theenlarged inner end 24 of the connecting nipple.

The rear air tube 38 is located through a suitably sealed aperture inthe end plug 25, then bent upwardly and outwardly as at 39, and thenaxially .as shown at 40, through the bores 35 and 34, being connected tothe outer end of the connecting nipple by any suitable means such assilver solder indicated at 41.

The outer end of the rear water tube 42 is sealed within the bore 43 ofthe end plug 25 in any suitable manner as by soldering. With thisarrangement, air is admitted from the air conduit 7 of the hose throughthe nipple 12 and passage 19 and bore 18 to the interior of the rear airtube 38.

Water is admitted from the conduit 8 of the hose through the nipple 12',passage 21 to the enlarged bore 20 of the hose nipple body, then throughthe apertures 44 to the reduced bore 35 of the connecting nipple, thento the enlarged bores 36 and 37 and out through the rear water tube 4-2.

A cylindrical heating element Vindicated generally at 45, provided withsilicone, Teflon or other suitable insulation to withstand 185 F. islocated around the hose nipple body 11 to heat the air and water passingthrough the same. Wires 46 connected to the heating element may belocated through the central conduit 9' in the hose and through the sidenotches 47 in the flame 14 of the hose nipple body.

The heating element 45, as shown in FIG. 3, is spaced inwardly from thetubular housing 3, thus forming an air chamber 45 between the heatingelement and the tubular housing to insulate the handle against heat fromthe heating element.

A nipple 48 is soldered or otherwise attached to the inner end of eachof the water tubes 42 and air tubes 38. Each of these nipples has anannular groove 49 adapted to be received in one of the slots 50V in theend cap 51 of the valve body 52. The inner portions of these nipples arereceived in the similar bores 53 in the valve body 52. An annular groove54 in the inner end portion of each nipple 48 receives an O-ring 55, asshown in FIG. 8, forming a seal between the nipple 48 and the bore 53.

The valve body 52 is of generally cylindrical shape and the end cap 51is attached to the end thereof by the screw 56. 'Each bore 53, as shownin FIG. 8, is provided with an internal shoulder 57 intermediate itsends, the remaining portion of the bore being straight and of reduceddiameter as indicated at 58 and further reduced toward the end as at 59.A transverse passage 60 communicates with the portion 58 of each boreand, through a longitudinal passage `61, with a bore `62 located throughthe left end of the valve body 52.

An air valve S3 is mounted in the air passage 53 shown in FIG. 8 and asimilar water valve 63 is mounted in the water passage equivalent to thebore 53 in FIG. 8. As both of these valves are alike, only the air valveshown in FIG. 8 will be described in detail.

This valve has an enlarged head 64 with an annular groove 65 adjacentthereto within which is located an O-ring 66 normally held in contactwith the shoulder 57 by the coil spring 67. This spring and the othersprings shown herein, as well as other parts which may come in contactwith the water may be formed of stainless steel. The stem 68 of thevalve is slidable within the reduced bore S9 and has an annular groove69v therein within which is located an O-ring 70 forming a seal betweenthe valve stem and the bore. The end of the valve stem normallyprotrudes from the left hand end of the valve body.

The left hand end portion of the tubular housing 3 is reduced indiameter as shown at 71 and is provided with an elongated slot 72 in thetop and at opening 73 upon one side. A selector ring, indicatedgenerally at 74, is rotatably mounted upon the reduced diameter endportion 71 of the tubular housing 3 and is provided with an externallyknurled portion 75 and has the cut away portion 76 and the further cutaway portion 77.

The inner end of the head has a reduced cylindrical portion 78, with avertical slot 79 therethrough and an axial bore 80, and thesubstantially semi-cylindrical extension 81. Water and air conduits -82and 83 respectively are bored longitudinally through the head, at oneside of the center thereof, and each is enlarged at the extension 81 toreceive a nipple 84 which is received in the corresponding bore 62 inthe valve body 52.

An annular groove 85 is formed in each nipple 84 to receive an `O-ring86 forming a seal between the nipple and the bore 62. The head is heldattached to the valve body iby means of a metal bracket strap 87, ascrew 88 being located through an aperture 89 therein and being screwedinto the valve body 52, the head of the screw being received in anaperture 9i)y in the tubular housing 3.

An aperture 91 in the other end of the metal bracket strap 87 receives apin 92 located in an aperture 93 in the head 4. Between the opposed endsof the head 4 and the valve body 52 is located the selector switch 94,comprising the quadrant 95 mounted upon a stem 96.

`On end of the stem 96 is journalled in the axial bore 80 in the headand the other end thereof within the axial bore 97 in the valve body, aspring 98 being located in the bore 97 to urge said selector switch tothe left as viewed in the drawings.

A radial bore 99 is formed in the quadrant 95 of the selector switch anda coil spring 100A therein holds the pin 101 in engagement with alongitudinal groove 102 in the selector ring 74 so that the selectorswitch will be rotated with the rotation of the selector ring.

The selector switch is adapted to be moved to three positions; first, soas to contact only the end of the air valve stem `68; second, to aposition where it will contact the ends of both the air valve and watervalve stems, and third to a position where it will contact only the endof the water valve stem.

For indexing the selector switch to these three positions, threedepressions indicated at 103, 104 and 105 are formed on the inside ofthe selector ring 74. A ball 106, biased by spring 107 in the bore 108in the head 4, is adapted to be selectively received in each of thedepressions 103, 104 and 105, as indicated in FIG. 6.

For the purpose of actuating the selector switch to selectively open theair and/ or water valves, an operating lever is provided. This lever isL-shaped, the shorter arm 109 being pivoted within the slot 79 in thehead by the pivot pin 110, while the longer arm 111 extends outwardly inposition to be grasped in the hand of the dentist so that he may withone hand rotate the selector ring 74 to desired position, and thenoperate the lever to selectively open the desired valve or valves.

For the purpose of regulating the tlow of water through the conduit 82in the head, a meter device is provided comprising the meter lever 112and the meter stem. 113 attached thereto. The stem is rotatably mountedin a transverse bore 114 in the head, which intersects the water bore82.

A port 115 is formed diametrically through the stem 113 and adapted toregister at both ends with the opposed ends of the water bore 82, asshown in full lines in FIG. 10, in order to provide for a solid streamof water to be delivered to the nozzle, or when turned to the brokenline position as shown in FIG. will almost, but not entirely, shut oifthe water so that a spray may be delivered to the nozzle lby propermanipulation of the selector switch and operating lever 111.

An annular groove 116 is formed in the meter stem 113 and an O-ring 117is located therein to form a seal between the stem and the bore 114. Asecond annular groove 118 is formed in the stem 113 and receives the endof a screw 119 which prevents accidental removal of the stem from thelbore.

The meter stem 113 may be soldered or otherwise connected to the meterlever 112, and the end of the lever may be knurled as shown, in order tofacilitate operation thereof. The upper end of the nozzle 2 is solderedor otherwise secured within the lower end of the end nipple 120. Thisend nipple is received within the bore 121 in the head 4 and is securedto the head by means of the head nut 122. The upper end of the endnipple 120 is spaced from the upper end of the bore 121, forming achamber 123, into which water from the bore 82 is discharged as at 124.

The upper end of the Water outlet tube 125l is secured within a bore 126in the end nipple 120 and leads down through the nozzle to the nozzlenipple or tip 127. The bore 126 is enlarged at 128 and the lower endcommunicates with the open upper end of the nozzle 2.

The end nipple 120 has a peripheral groove 129 forming an annularchamber communicating with the end of the air bore 83 and an aperture130 forms communication between said chamber and the enlarged bore 128so that air from the bore 83 will pass into the enlarged bore 128 andthen down through the nozzle to the nipple or tip 14.

On either side of the annular groove 129 are formed peripheral grooves131 in each of which is located an O- ring 132 forming an air seal|between the end nipple 120 and the bore 121 on each side of the groove129.

OPERATION In the operation of the syringe, the air and water conduits 7and 8 of the hose are connected to suitable sources of compressed airand water respectively, and the wires 46 are connected to a source ofelectric power. This will maintain a supply of water in the uppermostchamber 53 and air under pressure in the lowermost chamber 53 as viewedin FIG. 3.

Both the air and water will be heated as they pass through the rearnipple assembly which is surrounded rby the heater 45. The selector ring74 is rotated to the proper position to operate either the Water valve63' or the air valve `63, or the combination of both.

With the parts in the position shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, with thedetent ball 106 received in the recess 1014, the quadrand of theselector switch is positioned to register with both of the valves 63 and63' as best shown in FIG. 5.

To regulate the amount of Water to be discharged through the nozzle atthis time, the meter lever 112 is operated to rotate the meter stem 113to any desired position |between the full line and broken line positionsof FIG. l0.

The handle 111 of the operating lever is then depressed, moving theselector switch 94 to the right against the stems of the valves `63 and63 moving each valve to the open position or right as viewed in FIG. 8,thus Withdrawing the O-rings 65 from contact with the valve seatshoulders 57 permitting the tluid to pass from the charnbers 53 into thepassages `60y and then through the nipples 84 and bores 82 and 83 to thenozzle.

If it is desired to discharge only air from the nozzle, the selectorring 74 is rotated counter clockwise as viewed in FIGS. 4 and 6, seatingthe iball 106 in the recess 103 and moving the quadrant 95 of theselector switch away from the water valve 63', and in position toregister only with the air valve 63. Operating handle 111 of the lever109 is then depressed to actuate the selector switch 94 and open onlythe air valve.

If it is desired to discharge only water from the nozzle of the syringe,the selector switch 94 is moved clockwise until the ball 106 is sealedin the recess 105. Then when the lever 109 is operated to actuate theselector switch 94 only the water valve 63 will be opened.

In the foregoing description certain terms have been used for brevity,clearness and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to beimplied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because suchWords are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to lbebroadly co-nstrued.

Moreover, the embodiments of the improved construction illustrated anddescribed herein are by way of example, and the scope of the presentinvention is not limited to the exact details of construction.

Having now described the invention or discovery, the construction, theoperation, and use of preferred embodiments thereof, and the:advantageous new and useful results obtained thereby; the new anduseful construction, and reasonable mechanical equivalents thereofobvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the appendedclaims.

We claim:

1. A dental syringe comprising a tubular housing having separate air andwater passages therein, independently movable normally closed valveswithin said passages for controlling the ow of air and watertherethrough, valve selector means rotatably and axially movable withinsaid housing, said valve selector means being rotatable between aposition registering with the air valve only, another positionregistering with both valves and another position registering with theWater valve only, said valve selector means being movable axially foropening the valves registering therewith, a lever for axially movingVsaid valve selector means, and a head attached to the end of the tubularhousing, a cylindrical valve body located within the tubular housing andhaving longitudinal passages in which the valves are located, a bracketattaching the head to said cylindrical valve body, a selector ringrotatably mounted upon the" exterior of said tubular housing, meansconnecting the selector ring to said valve selector means, the selectorring having three spaced recesses in its inner surface, and aspring-biased detent in the head adapted to be selectively seated insaid recesses to hold the valve selector means in any of said positions.

2. A dental syringe as dened in claim 1, including a metering devicelocated in the water for regulating the amount of water discharged fromthe syringe.

3. A dental syringe as dened in claim 2, in which the metering devicecomprises a meter lever having a stem fixed thereto and journalled in abore intersecting the water passage, there being a diametric port insaid stern.

4. A dental syringe as defined in claim 1, in which the selector meanscomprises a quadrant fixed midway upon a stem, one end of the stem beingjournalled in the head and the other end of the stem being journalledand spring biased in the selector ring.

5. A dental syringe as defined in claim 4, in which there is a radialbore in said quadrant and a spring-biased pin in said bore is located ina longitudinal groove in the interior of the selector ring.

16. A dental syringe as deiined in claim 1, in which said longitudinalpassages are located at one side of the center of said cylindrical valvebody, and a transverse passage beyond the valve connects eachlongitudinal passage with a longitudinal passage in the other side ofthe center of head.

7. A dental syringe comprising a tubular housing having separate air andwater passages therein, independently movable normally closed valveswithin said passages for controlling the flow of air and watertherethrough, valve selector means rotatably and axially movable withinsaid housing, said valve selector means being rotatable between aposition registering with the air valve only, another positionregistering with both valves and another position registering with the`water valve only, said valve selector means being movable axially foropening the valves registering therewith, a lever for axially movingsaid valve selector means, and a head attached to the end of the tubularhousing, a hose nipple body within the tubular housing, the air andwater conduits being located through said hose nipple body, an electricheating element located around the outsided of the hose nipple body,there being an annular air space between said heating element and theinner surface of the tubular housing, a selector ring rotatably mountedupon the exterior of said tubular housing, means connecting the selectorring to said valve selector means, the selector having three spacedrecesses in its inner surface, and a spring-biased detent in the headadapted to be selectively seated in said recesses to hold the valveselector means in any of said positions.

8. A dental syringe as defined in claim 7, in which a hose is connectedto said hose nipple body, said hose having an air conduit and a waterconduit connected to the air and water conduits respectively of the hosenipple body by nipples, and :an electric wire conduit containing wiresconnected to said heating element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 950,738 3/1910 Baker 12S-173.12,757,668 8/1956 Meyer-Saladin 12S-173.1 3,254,646 6/1966 Staunt et al.12S-173.1 XR 3,375,823 4/1968 Pamplin et al 12S-173.1 3,393,676 7/1968Kummer et al. 12S-173.1

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner P. E. SHAPIRO, Assistant ExaminerU.S. Cl. X.R.

